love triangle or square?
by sexaylatingirl
Summary: Artemis has a secret. She doesn't want anyone finding out about it, but of course that's what family is for. When a tragedy occurs and secrets are revealed Artemis' life will change forever, all while she has to choose, and deal with being in the middle of a love square. Deals with issues.
1. Chapter 1

**This a story I've always wanted to happen in the cartoons, but of course I don't think it will ever happen.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any characters of Young Justice.**

**Love triangle or maybe a square?**

Artemis was at the cave with the rest of the team, they were all watching the TV, Superboy and Miss Martian were holding hands, Robin and Zatanna were sitting next to each other, Wally was sitting on the floor just below and to the left of Artemis, eating as always, and Kaldur was sitting next to Artemis on her right.

They were all paying attention to the TV when they heard Red Arrow walking in, everyone except Artemis, looked over to see him, she already knew he couldn't stand her, Red Arrow said hi to everyone, ignoring Artemis of course, he still didn't like her, she was his replacement, she had replaced him as a member of the team, partners with green arrow, and worst of all he felt as if the team had replaced him for her in terms of friendship. He hated her and couldn't even stand looking at her even though she wasn't hard to look at, she had nice curves, long, blond, sexy hair, grey eyes that changed colors when she was pissed, happy, or sad, she also had a heart shaped face that made her look feminine, all this features plus the fact that she was a deadly opponent made her dangerous, sexy and a challenge, which was the thing he love the most, he couldn't resist a challenge, except this one, _maybe_.

"jerk" Artemis said as he walked pass by them loud enough so he could hear

"What did you say?" Red Arrow asked angrily

"You heard me! Jerk!" Artemis snapped

"Okay everyone calm down" said Kaldur in a calm voice

"Tell her to stop! She is the one that needs to come down!" Red Arrow yelled pointing at Artemis

"I don't need anybody to tell what to do!" she exclaimed while standing up. She looked pissed and things were starting to get heated _again_

"Okay guys, chill" Wally said

"Stay out of it" Red Arrow and Artemis said at the same

"Okay Roy go and do whatever you came here to do. Artemis calm down" Kaldur said "please" touching her shoulder.

"Whatever" said Red Arrow walking away to the training room.

"That jerk needs to be taught a lesson" said Artemis as she sat down to watch TV like she was doing before.

Everyone was still tense, but they were all kind of used to it after all the fights between her and Red Arrow, and her and Kid Flash tend to get heated most of the time. Artemis was a very short temper girl and at this point everyone knew that.

Kaldur was looking at the blonde now, she noticed

"What?" she asked sounding a bit rude, she was still mad.

Kaldur was surprised by the tone of her voice and didn't say anything

"Sorry, I'm still mad and I'm taking it out on you" she said before he could say anything

"It's ok, I understand" he responded

Artemis kept her gaze at him, she wondered how could he be so patient, now that she thought about it she had never seen Aqualad angry before, 'how could that be?' she thought to herself, he was so calm and guarded at the same time, she knew absolutely nothing about him, but he was so polite and gentle with everyone in the team, he wasn't so defensive like she was. He was a good leader for sure.

Wally who was on sitting on the floor eating noticed Artemis looking at Kaldur. He didn't like it, he started to get pissed, and he didn't know why. He was so distracted that the glass full of soda he had in his hand slipped and fell on Artemis' shoes. Everyone turned when they heard the splash.

"Wally you idiot!" Artemis exclaimed

"Get over it! Your shoes are ugly anyways" he said while picking up his now empty glass

Artemis was about to hit him, but got distracted when Kaldur stood up and ran to the bathroom to bring a towel for Artemis.

"Thanks Kaldur" said Artemis receiving the towel and giving Wally an ugly look

"Yeah thanks Kaldur" Wally repeated imitating Artemis, and then he left speeding towards the kitchen.

"What's his deal?" Artemis said "I'm the one with the shoes full of Pepsi"

"That was weird" robin says following kid flash to the kitchen

"I'm going to take a shower" Artemis said leaving

"Ok ill clean up around here" said Kaldur

"Wally should clean that up, he is the one that spilled the soda" said Artemis

"It's okay, I can do it" responded Kaldur

"You are too nice, you know?" said Artemis smiling "you need to be more….uhm…moody…..behave like a teenager, which is what you are"

"I do believe I behave like a teenager" said Kaldur looking at her

Artemis snorted and said "really? How?" while putting her hands on her hips

"Well I…uh… like to eat chips and chocolate cake?" he said unsure of himself

Artemis let another laugh "you need to act like a teenager….ohh! I have an idea! I was invited to this party on Saturday and I'm taking you with me"

"Hey! What about me? I mean what about _us_? _We_ want to party too!" said robin smiling at Zatanna

"You guys can come too! It's going to be really fun, the whole team can go!" Artemis was now smiling and Kaldur couldn't stop looking at her angelical face

"Yes!" said robin and Zatanna at the same time, then looking at each other and blushed for a moment

"Yes! Let's go to a party!" said Miss Martian while grabbing Connor's arm

"Fine by me" said Connor emotionless

"So? Are you coming?" asked Artemis to Kaldur who was still looking at her

"uhhmm…I guess that would be okay" he said "thanks for the invitation"

"I can't wait until Saturday" said Artemis "It will be so much fun, but I have to warn you, there is going to be a lot of dancing, loud music, all types of drinks, and you know… probably some… drugs"

"What?" asked Kaldur surprised "you do drugs and drink?"

"oh no! I don't do any kind of drugs! …..but I might drink a bit" said Artemis "it's what teenagers do! It's normal to behave like this at this age!"

"I believe it is not appropriate for a young girl like you" said Kaldur

"Well you don't have to drink or do anything you don't want, and what I do is my business" the archer said "so are you guys still going?" she asked looking at everyone in the room

"No" said everyone together

"Fine then I'll go by myself" said Artemis walking away to take a shower

"But is it not dangerous if you go alone" asked Kaldur

"Nah I can take care of myself"

**Review if you want. This is my first story **


	2. Chapter 2

**Here comes chapter 2**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any character from Young Justice**

After the talked they had Kaldur was worried about Artemis, he never in a million years would think that she actually drank, 'why would she do that?' He wanted to talk to her about it, but he thought exactly what she said 'it is none of my businesses' but still, he was worried.

On her way to the bathroom to take a shower she bumped into Red Arrow.

"Watch where you're going!" she said grumpily

"You watch it! _Mole_" he snapped

Artemis could feel her blood boiling in anger, this time there was no one who could stop the fight. She looked straight into his eyes and gave him her deadliest look.

"You are just jealous because you have been replaced by me! It's not my fault you are a coward, after all you are the one who walked away"

He actually believed her for a moment but he couldn't let her see that so instead he grinned and said "look little girl. Who do you think you are? You could never replace me! You are and will never be as good as me"

Artemis was about to smacked that smile off his face with one punch, but before she could do anything he stepped closer and leaned so that their noses were just an inch away. He could smell her delicious scent, she smelled clean, like roses, her eyes were dark, which meant she was pissed and she looked sexy. Her heart-shaped face made her look so innocent and her red lips made look so glamorous. She was not like other girls; she had the looks, the independence and the temper of a grown woman. 'This girl had to grow up fast' he thought to himself. In this instant he wasn't looking at a teenager, he was looking at a woman and honestly he liked the sight of it. Then he remembered she was sneaky and a liar.

"I know you are not green arrow's niece. I don't know who you are and why you are lying, but if you hurt any of my friends I will personally hunt you down and kill you with my bare hands"

"I'm not afraid of you"

"Too bad. You should be. You do not know me"

"You do not know me either" she said with a small smile of satisfaction on her lips

"Yet" he responded walking away

Artemis couldn't stand him. He was a pain in the ass, especially _her ass_. 'Who does he think he is?' I mean sure he is good looking, with those broad shoulders, his very muscular arms, his abs, his sexy blue eyes, his dangerous red hair and most of all his bad-boy smile, not mention he was strong, brave and independent, he didn't take bullshit from anybody just like her, well except from her father, he spoke his mind just like her, sure they hated each other, but they also had things in common. Well she shouldn't care, he was jerk, he treated her like shit and she despised him for it.

After a hot shower she felt so much better. She was going to stay over that night, she didn't want to go home, and besides she wanted to train early in the morning. She hated going home, just seeing her mom reminded her of all the things she didn't want to be, she loved her mother, but she had made so many mistakes, it all caught up to not only her but also her daughters. Jade was gone, she worked for the shadow, and Artemis was a spy for her father, Sportsmaster, against her will. She had to protect the only family she had left, her mom. She had flashbacks of the "training" her father made her do when she was younger. All the memories of her father screaming at her telling her that feelings and emotions lead to death. It reminded her of all the pain she had inside of her, she never cried, she couldn't, she promised herself she wouldn't cry, so she buried all those feelings inside of her.

When she was changing in her room someone knocked the door, she put on her shorts and her oversized shirt fast and opened the door to find Kaldur standing there.

"hey" he said before noticing she was wearing short shorts that covered very little of her legs, an oversized shirt that for some reason he found attracting, her hair was wet and her eyes were shining, those large, light grey eyes staring at him right there.

"Hey" she said

"Hey" he said again looking away so she didn't noticed him blushing

"So….. What are you doing here?" she asked confused

"uhmm….. I wanted to talk to you" he said, he was very serious. She could see his face and they look into each other's eyes for a brief moment.

"You want to ….come in?" she asked nervously. He nodded and went in the room, and as soon as she closed the door he turned around facing her and asked "why do you do it?"

"What do I do what?" She asked not knowing what he was talking about. For a moment fear ran through her spine. 'Did he know about my family?' 'Did he know the truth?'

"Why do you drink?" he asked. She was so relieved

"because….." she didn't know what to say, she couldn't say 'oh yeah I drink so I can forget that I will have to kill one of you because my psycho father ordered it, and if I don't my ex-villain mother will be dead and my current-assassin sister was going to have to kill you and finish the job for me' but of course she couldn't just say that.

"Why do you care?" she asked because it was the only think she could think of

"Because you are part of this team, and if you drink that might affect your performance and you and anybody could get hurt" he said really fast

"Don't worry about me, I can take care of myself and I'm not an alcoholic either, I don't drink 24/7. I drink only when I know I don't have any missions, and I don't drink that much"

"Well… why do you do it?"

"Like I said it's none of your business"

"Well it is my business if it affects one of my friends" he answered. He called her his friend, she was fucked. How was she suppose to betray them now, they made everything so much harder for her in the time she spent with them.

"You are very persistent. Aren't you?" she said with her hands in the hips

"Well just so you know I am going to that party with you on Saturday" he said, he knew she wasn't going to answer the question so he decided to move on. He wanted to go to the party because he wanted to check up on her and make sure she was safe, and he wanted to be a 'normal' teenager or at least behave like one.

"If you are going to check up on me forget it. I don't need a babysitter"

"I'm not going to babysit you. After all you are the one that said I needed to behave like a normal teenager so I am going to that party with you" he said as politely as he could

Artemis was looking at him attentively and finally she said "fine, but you have to promise me you will follow my instructions, this time I am the leader, ok?"

The thought of_ her_ leading_him_ somehow fascinated him. He started to blush again.

"Okay I will" he said rapidly "now I have to go" and before Artemis could say anything else he was gone.

**Chapter 3 is coming up! It gets better I promised**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

**Disclaimer; I do not own any character from Young Justice**

Things at home got worse. Her dad actually appeared at home.

"Hey little princess" he said in a sarcastic tone

"Hey dad" murmured Artemis while she was looking at her mother surprised to see her father. Artemis was a little shocked too; she didn't think he would ever come here again

"I need to talk to you" he said to Artemis "alone"

"Ok dad, let's go to my room" she responded

"Why? What do you need with Artemis?" her mom said rapidly while rolling on her wheel chair towards Artemis. She did not know anything, Artemis couldn't tell her, this would destroy her mom's heart and Artemis couldn't let that happen

"Mom everything is fine" Artemis said firmly

Artemis and her father went into her room

"When are you going to do it?"

"Dad just give me a little more time. I'm almost there_. Please_" she said almost scared

"You have 3 weeks. _No longer_"

"Okay thanks dad, I won't fail" she responded relieved

"You better not, or you know what will happen to your mother_, right_?" he said pointing outside where her mother was

"Yes dad, I know" she said almost cutting him off

When they got out of the room her mom was pissed. She was shaking. Artemis knew her mother so well even though her mom spent most of her Artemis' childhood in jail.

"What do you want?" she screamed at Sportsmaster "don't you dare try to hurt her!"

"What are you going to do? You useless bitch?" he snapped

At that moment her mom grabbed one of the knives on the table and threw it aiming to his heart, he dodged, but still the knife was so fast it cut his arm. When he saw/ felt the blood from his shoulder Artemis could see his eyes getting darker, he was pissed and it was not good, she knew her dad had anger management problems, she knew that too well living with him most of her life. At that moment Artemis stepped in front of the mother.

"Dad it's better if you go now, I will talk to you later" she said obviously scared. That was when she just felt a burning sensation on her temple, right below her eye, and she fell on the floor as soon as the impact hit her. Sportsmaster was about to hit her mom when Artemis yelled "stop! I'll do it in 2 weeks!"

Sportsmaster stopped at once, looked at her and shook his head.

"Your feelings and emotions will lead you to your death"

He said those words every time he saw her. That was the hardest lesson she wanted to learn, she didn't want to develop feelings for anybody, but she just couldn't, she was too damm soft. Then he was gone. The pain on her cheek was abundant. She could feel something wet dripping down her cheeks, but she knew it wasn't a tear. It was blood. Her mom rolled over to her and cleaned to wound with a tissue she had in her hands. Her mom was crying and shaking, but she was there quiet healing her daughter.

That night she couldn't sleep. She had a massive headache because of the punch she received. He actually had opened a wound on her temple, it wasn't large but it was deep, and almost her whole cheek was purple with some green parts around the large bruise.

The next morning she didn't know what she was going to do, she had to go to school and go to Mt. justice to train, she had to think about the lie she was going to tell her team mates.

At school she would say she fell off the stairs, people at her school were stupid anyways, but her team mates, they wouldn't buy just anything. She had to think of a lie that would be good enough for them to believe.

In the afternoon she had to go to the cave and train. When got there she saw that everyone was already sitting in the living room, 'fuck' even Red fucking Arrow was there too. Everyone turned around to see her when the computer announced her name, except Red Arrow of course, she could see the expressions in their faces changing as she got closer and they saw her bruise.

"Oh my god! Artemis what happened to your face?" Megan ran, well more like flew, over to her to see the bruise better. Now even Red Arrow was looking at her with his open mouth 'great' she thought

"Oh it's nothing I just had an accident back at home" Artemis said calmly "not a big deal"

"Are you kidding me? That bruise it's not a small deal" robin said as he made an expression of disgust looking at her swollen face

"How did it happen?" asked Kaldur and Wally at the same time, and then looked at each other awkwardly. Their faces were serious.

"umh….. I was walking to school when I heard someone scream, so I rushed over to see who it was , and then next thing I know a motorcycle comes towards me and well I didn't really see it because I was distracted with the screaming on the other side, I barely had time to dodge most of it, If didn't I wouldn't be here right now, but my face fell straight on the ground…and…yeah… that's how it happened" she said while looking at the floor, she was tired of lying to her friends, but she had no other option.

"Really? What kind of motorcycle was it?" asked Red Arrow looking directly at her

She lifted her gaze and looked pissed.

"Well how the hell was I supposed to look at the damm motorcycle when I was on the ground bleeding!"

"Well I don't believe a word you said" red arrow responded

"Well I don't care" she said imitating his tone of voice. Everyone was now staring at her. She could feel her blood boiling.

"If you don't believe me, then you shouldn't have asked! And besides this is none of your business! She yelled at everyone in the room then she was walking toward the infirmary. She couldn't see but she heard steps walking behind her, she wasn't in the mood for any of Wally's jokes or any of Megan's perkiness, but when she turned around she found Kaldur, she was surprised. They stayed there in the middle of the hall way looking at each other.

Until Kaldur finally spoke and said "let me see that" getting closer to Artemis

"Why?" she asked instantly

"I want to see if I can help you somehow" he responded. They were so close to each other, Kaldur bent down a bit to be at eye level with her and to see the wound clearly.

She could hear and feel his heavy breathing, she looked at his face and how concentrated he was on her face. He met her gaze and they locked their eyes for a couple of seconds before she looked away.

"C'mon lets go, I think I can help" he said

"Okay" she said walking in front of him and into the infirmary.

"Sit I'll get what I need" he said

"Do you know what you're doing?" she asked curious, living with her father she knew a lot about wounds and how to treat them.

"Yes I believe I do. I was a very…interesting kid when I was younger, I used to get hurt almost every day"

Wow that was the first time he said anything about his past, he had never said anything about it to her.

"Wow really? I almost can't believe it" she said smiling a bit now "I would've never thought that you were a pain in the ass like Wally when you were little"

"well I wasn't really a pain, I was independent and I loved to discover new things and I got hurt a lot but I almost never got in trouble" he responded while sitting down right in front of Artemis

"Well that's the opposite of me" she giggled "I remember I got into so much trouble it was sad" she said smiling. He felt good to know that, they were actually talking to each other about their personal lives, it wasn't much but still.

He touched the wound to clean it and she didn't even flinch, she was definitely a tough girl, he already knew that, but this was reassuring it.

"Doesn't it hurt?" he asked as he cleaned the wound

"no" she said looking down "not anymore" she was right, the pain she felt on her face was nothing compare with the pain she felt inside, and besides she got worse injuries "training" with her dad.

"Oh" he said looking at her attentively. He thought there was something wrong with Artemis for some reason, he didn't know what it was, but he had a bad feeling about all this.

After that they were quiet until he was done.

"Thanks" said Artemis breaking the silence and touching he cheek

"No don't touch it!" he said holding her hand. They were surprised at what he had just done. It was even quieter now, neither of them moved their hands away and they were looking into each other's eyes again. She could feel her face getting hot, and suddenly she forgot about everything, about her "job", her father, her family, her future, and she just focused on his grey, sweet eyes. He was very handsome now she that looked at him clearly, his face was rough and very masculine, he was also very muscular, his arms were huge, he was really tall, and the color of his skin was warm like chocolate, one if her favorite things in the world, she loved chocolate. At that moment Wally came in the room and saw them, he was shocked and she could see something else in his face 'anger?' at that moment they stopped holding hands and they both looked at Wally.

"Black Canary is here to begin the training" Wally said with an emotionless tone and face. But before they could answer he was gone

"What's up with him?" she asked looking at the door where he was standing just seconds ago

"I don't know" Kaldur responded "but we should go to training"

"oh yeah" she said standing up from the chair


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any characters from Young Justice **

During the training session Artemis got paired up with Wally. She was having a bad day. She hated the kid and he didn't like her either.

"Okay you two, are you ready for a hand to hand combat?" asked black canary looking at both of them

"Yes" they both said at the same time looking at each other

"Okay start now!" said black canary

Artemis and kid flash were running towards each other, then Artemis dodge his punch and tripped him, he was on the floor when Artemis ran on top of him punching his chest and his face. He turn around and knocked her onto the floor, the look in his eyes was scary, she had never seen kid flash this pissed before, now he was on top of her looking directly into her eyes, she could feel his eyes burning her soul, she didn't understand why he was mad at her. They kept fighting on the floor, knocking each other over and rolling, at this point of the fight they were wrestling, then she felt something wet on her cheek, when kid flash saw her wound had opened again and it was bleeding he stopped.

"What? Are you tired already?" asked the archer smiling triumphantly.

"Your wound, it's bleeding" he said touching her cheek

"Stop!" said black canary "Artemis go clean that up and patch it up"

"But I'm fine! We could've kept going" protested Artemis. She got up and walked to the infirmary to patch up her cheek _again_. She was getting tired of it.

Kid flash ran following her and opened the infirmary door for her. She rolled her eyes at him.

"What? I can't be nice to an injured team mate?" he said with a grinned on his face

"Whatever Wally, just…stay put" she said gesturing for him to sit

"You are the injured one, beautiful, I will take care of you" he said grabbing her hand and pushing her down on the chair

"Wally I'm fine I can do it by myse-"

"No, we are team mates…and….. Friends, this is what friends do" he said cutting her off. 'Shit!' that the second remark of her being friends with the team. She felt sick to her stomach; she felt something twisting inside of her, her " job" was almost impossible now. She looked pale and tense.

"Are you okay? You seem pale" kid flash asked looking at her

"Yeah I'm fine, I can do this by myself. I don't need help" she answered standing up

"Well you didn't seem to mind when Kaldur was helping you!" he snapped

"What!"

"You heard me! You seemed pretty _satisfy_ when he was _attending_ to your injuries"

Artemis couldn't believe he was saying all that. It was none of his business besides nothing happened, what was he talking about?"

"Look you dumbass, I don't know what you're talking about. You act so immature. You are wrong if you think there is something between me and Kaldur. You are crazy" she said angrily

"Oh yeah? Then why were you holding hands when I walked in on you two?" he said pointing at exactly where she was sitting when Kaldur was holding her hand

"We weren't holding hands! And, and ….why do you even care? It's none of your business!" she snapped

"Oh I don't care! I couldn't care less who you do! I just want to make sure my teammates are safe!"

"Oh really? So this about me being the mole? Not about you being jealous?"

At that moment Wally's face got red, he was angry, but he was angry at himself, he was jealous of Kaldur, he did like Artemis _a lot_, but he just didn't want to believe it.

Artemis was looking at him; she didn't know what to say. Then she suddenly felt him against her, he was standing so close looking at her eyes, he smelled nice, then without saying anything he leaned and kissed her. She was so surprised, she stood there unable to move, he put his hands around her waist and press his body against her, his tongue was dancing in her mouth, he was a really good kisser, his heart was beating so fast, he couldn't think, all he wanted was to kiss Artemis for the rest of his life. His hands were traveling along her spine now and he was playing with her long hair. Artemis was still in shocked, so she decided to just let it happen; after all he knew what he was doing so well. she started to pull him closer to her, her tongue was now fighting with his, her hands traveling through his red hair, she bit his lower lip and he let out a moan. They were kissing until they couldn't breathe anymore. Artemis pulled away and they were both breathing fast and heavily.

**Don't worry there is more to come! Next time with Red Arrow!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from Young Justice**

After the kissed between her and Wally things at Mt. Justice were strange. Wally and Artemis didn't argue anymore, they barely looked at each other, everyone knew something was wrong, but no one dared to ask.

Kaldur and Artemis also seemed different, they were friendlier to each other, and from time to time they would actually look at each other and smile for no reason at all. Sometimes while Megan was cooking, Connor was walking wolf, and robin was on his computer, like always, Kaldur and Artemis would hang out in the living room, reading in silent, watching TV, eating and sometimes even talking like they were close friends, they seemed very comfortable around each other.

For some reason Wally didn't like it when Artemis and Kaldur hang out. He did like Artemis, and they had kissed, but after it nothing else happened between them. They barely talked after that. He kind of regretted, he liked fighting with Artemis, he felt incomplete now that she wouldn't talk to him, the only interaction they had after that was on a mission they had, in which he pushed her out of the way of a grandee thrown at her. She had thanked him, but that was it.

Kaldur and Artemis were way too friendly, every time Wally saw her smile at Kaldur his stomach felt heavy and he wasn't hungry anymore, which was very rare since he was always hungry. That afternoon they were sitting on the couch next to each other, after a long day of hard and exhausting training, Wally was nowhere to be found, not that Artemis cared, but since the kiss they have both been distant, she didn't know why, but it was that way. She thought about the kiss and how good it felt, she liked it, but she wasn't going to admit that, every time she thought about the kiss she could feel her face getting hot.

"Are you okay?" Kaldur said touching her forehead with his warm hands and interrupting her thoughts

"Yeah why?" she responded looking at him confused

"Your face was kind of red and I thought you might have a fever"

"Oh" she said looking away because she knew she was blushing and she didn't want him to see her face

"uhmm…. So… about that party on Saturday i-"

"Oh! I completely forgot about the party!" she said interrupting him

"Oh are we still attending?" he asked unsure of himself

"Yes! Of course! We can't miss that party!" she said smiling

"Okay I'll pick you up Saturday at 8, but I don't know where you live"

"No! I mean…..uh….. it's okay _I_ can pick _you_ up from here and take you to the party" she said giving him a flirtatious smile. She didn't want anybody to know where she lived. She had to keep everything about her a secret if she wanted to protect the mother.

"Okay" he said smiling. He liked that Artemis was so independent unlike most girls her age.

"Uh… I have to go to my room and get some homework done" she lied excusing herself so she could go to her room and think about how hard it was going to be, she didn't want to, but she had to, it was either her mother or her team mates. She knew they could handle Sportsmaster, but still it felt so wrong.

On her way to her room she found Red Arrow standing right in front of her door with his hands crossed on his chest, he was looking at her now. 'What now?' she thought

"Well look at you! Miss Player" he said with a smirk on his face

"What are you even talking about?" she asked confused and annoyed by his presence

"I saw you and Kid Flash kissing the other day" he said with a serious look on his face

"My love life is none of your business" she snapped, she could feel her face getting hot

"It is when you might hurt my friends! Not only that you are also going on a date with Kaldur on Saturday" he said angrily "you are nothing but a slut!"

Artemis couldn't take it anymore, she needed to teach this jerk a lesson, she tried to punch him in the jaw, but failed when he grabbed her wrist, he then turned around, opened the door of her room and pulled her inside, he never let go of her wrist and right after he closed the door he pulled her closer to him and said "what is your game? What are you playing?"

"I don't know what you are talking about!" she said trying to break free, but he was stronger than her

Red Arrow pushed her onto her bed grabbing her shoulders; he got closer to the archer who was pinned on her bed against her will. He got so close to her face that she could see his face clearly even though he was wearing his mask. She could feel him breathing on her. He was staring at her with those dangerous, blue eyes, and that determination, she couldn't help but notice his lips so close to hers.

"I will find out the truth about you!" he said "I don't know who do you think you are, but you need to stop _now_, you are going to hurt Wally and Kaldur if you keep this up"

"Like I said it is none of your business! There is nothing going on between me and Kaldur and what happened with Wally was _just_ a kiss"

"I don't care what you call it! Stop it _now_"

"I don't need anyone telling me what to do! Jerk!" she said struggling for him to get out of her face "you are nothing but a low life coward who doesn't have a life on his own so he has to harass innocent people, especially girls. You pervert!"

"Get over yourself! And you are not as innocent as you say" he said laughing

Artemis was getting mad; he was getting under her nerves. She couldn't hit him because he was holding her down and he was too strong, she had to teach him a lesson the only way she could.

She looked at him straight in the eyes and with no warning she kissed him with all the energy she had left. She shoved her tongue in his mouth, slowly. The moment her lips met his Red Arrow's mind went blank, he couldn't think about anything else, all he could do was to let go of her wrists, and keep drowning into the sensual movements of her tongue, one of his hands was pulling her head into his so he could taste her delicious lips even more, his other hand was on her thigh pulling it so their bodies could be closer, if that was possible, now that her hands were free she used them to play with his hair and to explore his lean, muscular back under his uniform. She kept kissing him hard, she moved her hips against his, he couldn't stop, and he desired her now more than ever. Her kisses were hot, passionate and wild. He was so into the kiss she could feel a bump down there in between his legs. She had done it! She had won. She pulled out of the kiss and with a laugh said "looks like I don't need to get over myself after all" touching the bump he had in his pants.

His facial features changed from pleasure to anger. She had won and they both knew it.

"We are not done talking" he said as he stood up and walked away

"I bet you'd like that wouldn't you?" she responded teasing him. She could've sworn she saw his lips move into a smirk, but then again it was dark and she couldn't see very well.

**Chapter 6 coming soon! If you have any suggestions review! **


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any character from young justice**

The next morning Artemis woke up with a headache, after the kiss she shared with Red Arrow she couldn't fall asleep. She was up almost all night remembering how seductive and deep that kiss was, but it was with Red Arrow, she hated him so much she couldn't stand thinking about him in that way.

Thank God it was Friday and the last day of school of the week, she had a test that day and she was sure she was going to fail. She didn't care either.

She woke up early to get ready for school. She woke up earlier than everyone at Mt. Justice, she went to the bathroom took shower, then she changed into her uniform and finally she took care of the wild beats, her hair. She went to the kitchen to eat a bowl of cereal. She was ready to go when Kaldur came into the living room, he had just woken up, he was wearing a pair of grey, comfortable looking sweat pants and that's it, yes he was shirtless, which made Artemis feel embarrass. She looked away almost immediately trying to hide her red cheeks.

"Hey Artemis you're already up?" he asked yawning

"Oh….hey Kaldur, yeah I have school remember?" she responded feeling something in her stomach, something weird that felt pleasant. He didn't go to school anymore; he was already out of high school or whatever they called it in Atlantis.

"Oh yeah I forgot about that" he said looking at her in her school uniform, her short skirt, her high socks just above her knees, her white shirt, her bra, 'her bra!' you could actually see the color of it, red, because her white shirt was really thin. He blushed but looked away immediately.

"Okay I'm going now…uh…..bye Kaldur" Artemis said exiting Mt. Justice

"Bye Artemis, I hope you have a good day in school!" he said

"Thanks"

'Kaldur is so nice' she thought 'not to mention hot', but he was too nice. He didn't judge her like Red Arrow and Kid Flash, he was calm, she liked being around Kaldur he made her feel safe and relaxed.

After school was over Artemis went home, after that she had to go to Mt. Justice to train.

"Hi mom I'm home!" Artemis said as soon as she stepped into her house

"Hello Artemis. How was school?" her mom asked rolling on her wheelchair from the kitchen

"It was fine, I'm going to change and then I'm going to Mt. Justice. We have training today" she said walking to her room

"Okay, but make sure you eat something before going" said her mom disappearing into the kitchen again

When Artemis opened her door she saw a note on her bed. She grabbed it to read it:

_HEY LITTLE PRINCESS_

_REMEMBER YOU HAVE A WEEK LEFT_

_KEEP IN MIND YOUR MOTHER _

_I WILL SEE YOU IN SEVEN DAYS _

_SWEET DREAMS, BABY GIRL_

It was from Sportsmaster, she only had 7 days left, what the fuck was she suppose to do? She couldn't betray her friends, she had grown to really like them, but she also had to think about her mother. Artemis had to protect her family, that's all she could at the moment, but she didn't want to hurt them either. She was drowning in her own fucking mind, and it was painful. She got ready and took an apple from the kitchen just for her mom to see, she wasn't hungry at all. Then she headed straight to the cave.

When she got into Mt. Justice she saw Kaldur reading a book while Red Arrow and Kid Flash were watching TV. They all turned around to see her when the computer said her name. She blushed, after remembering she had kissed both Roy _and_ Wally, and to top that they were sitting next to each other! 'Wait! Did Red Arrow say anything about the kiss? No, he would never mention it to anyone, or would he?' she thought. Fear and embarrassment ran through her spine.

Wait! There was nothing to be afraid of; after all they were just a couple of kisses. So why did she feel guilty about kissing them? There was an awkward silence when she started walking toward the living room. They were all staring at her.

"Can I have my face back?" she snapped annoyed by them looking at her like a Martian, she probably shouldn't think like that since Megan was a Martian.

"Oh! Hello Artemis. How was school?" asked Kaldur

"It was good thanks" she responded

"You're coming from school?" Red Arrow asked arching his eyebrows

"Yes"

"Then why are you not wearing your uniform?" he questioned her. She rolled her eyes at him and then said "well _captain obvious_ I went home and changed"

"Really? And how come you've never mentioned where you live?" he asked with a smirk on his face now

"Because it is _none_ of your business! Do everyone a favor and go get a life" she yelled. She was pissed, hell! He always bombarded her with so many questions in front of the team, just to put her on the spot. He enjoyed making her angry; she looked so hot when she was pissed, it was worth all the yelling.

Artemis walked fast to her room. She needed to get out of there before things got worse. She stormed into her room slamming the door and throwing her body on the bed. Then she heard a knock outside the door. She got up and opened the door; to her surprised Wally was standing there looking at her with concern.

"Can I come in?" he asked calmly, which was so rare for him

"Uhh… yeah" she said opening the door so he could come in and closing it again as soon as he was inside

0

"What's wrong?" she asked looking at him

"You know what's wrong" he responded facing her

"No, I don't, that's why I'm asking?" she was starting to lose it again

"You've changed, your attitude towards me changed, after _it_ in the infirmary the other day"

"That's because I have no desire to fight anymore, I'm tired and I have enough to worry about, you should be glad I'm not being a bitch to you"

"I would be if you weren't ignoring me" he said looking down

"Wait! What? So you rather me being a bitch to you than ignoring you?" she asked confused

"At least I know that you know I exist, when we don't fight it's like I'm not even there and you ignore me, and honestly I don't like that"

"Well I really don't care what you like or dislike!" she yelled. She couldn't believe what she hearing, she didn't have to do please him in any way! Who does he think he is!

"Well then you can't ignore the fact that you kissed me the other day! You can't tell me that was nothing!" he was starting to yell too

"Oh please! _You_ are the one who kissed _me_!"

"Well…. you kissed me back!"

"Wally it was just a fucking kiss" she said lowering her voice

"Yes you are right, it was just a stupid kiss!" he said. He was beyond furious, he felt so stupid to think that the kiss actually meant something to her, obviously not! He was so naïve, she didn't care about him, and it made him sick.

"Wally don't act like the victim here! And don't act like you actually care about me! We both know you hate me"

"I don't hate you" he said surprised

"Yes you do!" she insisted

"Really? Would I do this I hated you?" he said wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her against his body, then kissing her. This time the kiss was different, it didn't have the passion the other one had, this kiss was slow, and very sweet. He felt a romantic wave rushing to his heart, gently kissing her red lips. She felt overwhelmed by the kiss; it was so addicting. Their lips' touching was an explosive combination. She wanted to stop kissing him, she tried, but she couldn't, they were lost into each other's arms. Finally kid flash pulled away and smiling said "I told you arguing was good"

"Oh shut up!" Artemis said trying not to laugh. Kid flash was looking at her attentively, he wondered why he liked this girl so much, until he let go of her and walked to the door, he opened it and before he was out of her room he said "I'm glad we fought" closing the door behind him.

Artemis was about to explode, she was furious, sad, confused, annoyed, and anxious. She had just kiss Wally _again_, and the night before she had shared a passionate kiss with Red Arrow. They were best friends! And suddenly she remembered what she came here to do.

The fact that Wally and Roy were best friends didn't seem so wrong anymore, considering she had to betray them, all of them. The thought of it made her gut twist; she wanted to throw up, she felt sick and disgusted with herself, she was ashamed of her family. But she needed to protect her mother so she had to do it.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from young justice**

Artemis was so stressed; she had so many going through her mind. The kiss with Red Arrow_, the two, not one, but two_ kisses with Wally, her "job", the safety of her mom. She had a headache _again_.

It was Saturday afternoon, she was getting ready to go pick up Kaldur so they could go to the party. she was wearing white skinny jeans, a short, hot pink top that showed a little cleavage, her favorite pair of shoes Nike, earrings, a little bit of make up her mother made her put on, and for the first time in 3 years she was wearing her curly, shiny, blond hair down. When she looked in the mirror she saw a different girl standing in front of her. She looked feminine, the make up around her eyes made them even larger, her eyelashes were really long, and the red lip gloss on her lips made them look fuller. She actually looked attractive.

When she got to Mt. Justice, she saw Kaldur sitting in the living room, wearing a pair of blue jeans, a thin blue t-shirt that made his grey eyes stand out even more, and a black jacket. She could see him flex his muscles as soon as she walked into the living room. He looked buff and very tough. He stood up fast; he was very tall, and elegant. Calling him handsome would be an understatement.

When he saw her coming in his jaw dropped, she looked gorgeous, he had never such beauty, not even in Atlantis, where everyone looked like royalty. She smiled as soon as she saw him, which made him even more nervous. He couldn't take his eyes off her; she looked like an angel, a dangerous, magnificent angel.

"Hey Kaldur. Are you ready? She asked as she walked towards him

"uhm... hey Artemis...you look... beautiful" he said blushing

"thanks. you are not so bad yourself" she responded smiling and pointing at his outfit

"thanks"

"Great! Are you ready?" she asked

"uhh…..yeah let's go" he responded motioning for her to go before him.

As they started to walk Robin appeared with Kid Flash. His jaw dropped as soon as he saw Artemis.

"Wow….who are you? And what have you done with Artemis?" asked Robin mocking her

"Shut up Robin" said Artemis

"So where are you two going dress like that?" interrupted kid Flash looking at Artemis up and down

"They are going on a date" blurt out Robin

"What?" asked kid Flash in shock

"It's not a date!" exclaimed Artemis

"It is not like that" said Kaldur, even though he looked disappointed

"We are going to a party" said Artemis "let's go Kaldur" grabbing his hand and pulling him into the transporter with her

Once out of the transporter they were walking to the party, which was nearby.

"Sorry about that" said Artemis as she let go of his hand

"Oh…..it's….. Alright" he responded

"I hope you are ready to party!" she said

"I believe I am prepare" he said in all seriousness

Artemis snorted and said "you are not ready. You need to relax more and talk more casual, don't be so polite"

"Are suggesting me to disrespect people?" he asked confused

"No, but you don't have to be so stiff, relax and pretend you are underwater"

"Underwater? How?"

"I've seen you under water. You act different. You are happy, relax, you enjoy being underwater, act like that when you are at the party, and just go with the flow"

"You've been watching me underwater?" he asked surprised

Artemis was blushing now "uhh…I.. I was out watching the sea one night when I saw you coming back to Mt. Justice….You seemed so happy"

"Well I do enjoy being in the ocean" he said smiling at her. She looked into his eyes for a long time until they were interrupted by the sound of loud music. Artemis and Kaldur both looked that way and saw a house full of people, drinking, and dancing. Artemis gave him a mischievous smile pulling him towards the party.

Artemis was so excited to be here. She loved parties and she really needed to have fun after the stressful week she had. Kaldur on the hand was nervous.

"Don't worry, relax" she said clutching his hand

"I will" he said firmly smiling at her

When they were inside the party it was crazy to say the least. There were people dancing to "Put it down on me" by Jeremiah, another group taking shots and drinking, the house was full of people, as soon as Artemis and Kaldur walked in a bunch of stares were directed towards them. Girls were giggling as Kaldur walked pass by them, many of them just waved and smiled at him. Artemis didn't let go of his hand making sure the girls saw she was with him. They guys on the other hand looked at Artemis as if she was a large, juicy steak, many jaws dropped, other boys were smiling at her, and others screaming and waving at her. Kaldur felt anger rising in his body, he hold her hand tightly. He didn't want to let go, she was warm and he felt secure around her, especially now that there was pure madness going on around them.

When they got to the kitchen where people were drinking Artemis let go of his hand and poured a shot for her.

"Do you want one?" she asked Kaldur

"No thank you, you are drinking already?" he asked

"Kaldur I told you I don't need a babysitter, I came here to have fun and that's what I'm doing" Artemis said annoyed

"Sorry" said Kaldur looking at how fast she was drinking, she was in her third shot already when a tall guy appeared in the kitchen and looked at Artemis licking his upper lip.

"Artemis is _very _nice to see you" he said walking towards the blonde

"Oh hey Josh" she said "thanks for inviting me to your party"

"Oh it's nothing" he said looking at a very mad Kaldur

"So… is this you….brother?" Josh asked pointing at Kaldur who was standing right behind Artemis

"Oh I'm sorry, I forgot to introduce you to my friend Kaldur" she said looking at Kaldur "Kaldur this is josh, one of my classmates" she motioned toward Josh

"Nice to meet you Kaldur" he said holng his hand out

"It's a pleasure" Kaldur responded shaking his hand and giving him an angry look

"So Artemis I was hoping you would be my guest of honor today" said Josh

"Really?" asked Artemisia surprised

"Yeah and as my guest of honor you have to dance with me" he said with a smirk on his face

"I would love to" she said grabbing his hand and pulling him toward the living room, which was now the dance floor, "I hope you can keep up with me" she said teasingly

"I'll be right back!" she told Kaldur walking away to dance with josh

Kaldur was furious, his hands were shaking, he wanted to rip Josh's head and smash it against the floor. He couldn't stand seeing Artemis dancing in his arms. Kaldur turned around and took two shots of Tequila. The shots burned his throat, and he felt hot, but calmer than before. He didn't want to turn around, he knew if he saw Artemis with Josh he would finish the whole bottle of Tequila on his own. When the song was over he looked back and saw Artemis coming back talking and laughing with Josh.

"Sorry Kaldur. I just loved that song" she said happily as she grabbed a beer and opened it

"You are a great dancer!" Josh said totally ignoring Kaldur

"Thanks. You are not so bad yourself" she responded poking him. They both laughed and Kaldur was about to tackle Josh when they heard glass breaking.

"Oh shit! I have to go see what they broke now!" he said running to where the noise came from

"Nice guy" said Kaldur sarcastically " he seems…..interesting"

"Not really, he just a normal teenager, well except that he is the most popular guy at school and a player"

"A player?" asked Kaldur puzzled

"Yeah it means he gets with a lot of girls"

"Oh did he ever….. You know…you and him?" asked Kaldur nervous

"Me and him? Oh no! He is not my type at all" she said making a 'gross' face

Kaldur was laughing. He was being stupid for no reason at all. She didn't like josh like that.

"So do you want to dance?" Artemis asked

"I…. don't….know how" he whispered

"Lucky for you I'm here to help you out" she said grabbing his arm and pushing him towards the dance floor.

Artemis was an incredible dance, she moved her hips to the rhythm of the music, in a very sensual way. Her moves were controlled and graceful, not to mention sexy. She owned the dance floor. Kaldur just smiled at seeing her laughing while she danced, she seemed to enjoy it. And he did too.

Kaldur didn't know what to do so he tried to follow Artemis pace, but failed miserably, she was an outstanding dancer, and he couldn't follow her complicated moves that seemed so simple. So when a slow song came up he was relieved. Slow songs didn't require much movement so he was comfortable with them. At that moment he took Artemis' hand and pulled her landing his other hand on her waist. She wrapped her arms around his neck and they both started to dance to the slow rhythm of the song. At one point Artemis looked up to see his beautiful eyes looking at her, they were looking into each other's eyes and again the world around them disappeared. They were alone dancing, looking into each others' souls. Artemis forgot about everything going on, she was lost in Kaldur's eyes. She had never felt something like that _ever_. For the first time in her life she felt happy, she wished time would stop and she could stay like that.

Kaldur was completely mesmerized by Artemis. He was falling for her and there was nothing he could do about it. He wanted to embrace Artemis and kiss her. He couldn't think about anything else. He hugged her tightly around her waist pulling her closer to him. Immediately she felt her heart beating faster. Then after what seemed hours of holding each other they both leaned for a kiss. That kiss; hard, but soft; fiery but cool; a split second but also forever. Sweet love was been born. His lips spoke love and her's spoke forever. Then she heard the voice of her father inside her head "you better not fail. Keep your mother in mind. Little princess" she pulled away suddenly gently pushing Kaldur away.

"I'm sorry" she said walking away unable to look at him

Kaldur felt guilty and wanted to apologize, but the blonde was gone before he could say or do anything. Artemis was in the bathroom washing her face with cold water, she cleaned all the makeup and tried to calm herself.

"What the fuck just happened?" she asked herself looking in the mirror "I can't be close with any of them, I have a job to do" she was shaking now. She was terrified. She was getting too close with the team _especially_ Kaldur. When she finally came out of the bathroom he was waiting for her outside.

"I'm sorry" he blurt out as soon as he saw her "I don't know what happened, I didn't mean to Artemis, it just happened"

"It's ok Kaldur. Let's just pretend this never happened" she replied sadly. She didn't want to forget. That was the best kiss she ever had. She wanted to kiss him more, she wanted the kiss to never end, but she knew that was impossible. She had to do her "job" and move on. Kaldur felt hurt. He didn't want to forget the kiss either. He liked her so much, but he couldn't tell her. he was too ashamed to look at her.

"Let's go home" she whispered

"Ok" he replied


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any characters from Young Justice**

After Artemis and Kaldur left the party to go to the cave, the way back was very awkward. No one said anything the whole time. They couldn't even look at each other without being embarrassed. Once they got to the transporter they stopped and looked at each other.

"Uhh…you can go first" said Kaldur nervously

"Yeah, whatever" whispered Artemis

When they got to the cave, surprisingly Wally was watching TV, and Red Arrow was sitting in the couch doing nothing. It was 2 am. It was too late for them to be here at this time.

"Hey guys. How was your date?" asked Wally bitterly, as soon as he heard them come in. Red Arrow was glaring at Artemis waiting for her answer.

"I wasn't a date!" Kaldur and Artemis snapped at once. They looked at each other awkwardly and then they were blushing.

"Whatever" said Wally turning around to keep watching TV. Red Arrow sat there quietly looking at Artemis. After a moment of awkward silent the archer started to walk towards her room.

"Ok I'm tired I need to get some sleep" she said

"Good night" Kaldur said "I'm going to bed too" going to his room

Neither Wally nor Red Arrow answered Kaldur; they just glared at him with angry faces. Kaldur was confused. They were best friend practically brothers.

"Is there something wrong?" Kaldur asked

"No, why would something be wrong?" asked Red Arrow sarcastically

"Nothing is wrong" snapped Wally

"Okay…." Said Kaldur going to bed even more confused than before

Artemis was lying in her bed. She couldn't sleep, she had kissed three boys all in one week. How did she manage to do that? She was surprised; she kept thinking how different the three kisses had been. She couldn't help but notice that she enjoyed all of them. Red Arrow's kiss was hot and intense, Wally's two kisses were passionate and sweet, but Kaldur's, Kaldur's kiss was different, his kiss was delicious, addictive and powerful, his kiss trapped her, it made her forget everything, it made her feel something funny close to a heart attack, breathless but it felt so good, it felt right. She had never felt that way before.

She was there standing with her bow and arrow ready to kill the enemy. Her father was next to her with a hand over her shoulder. When his father turned the lights on she saw her targets, her entire team, hanging from chains around their hands, covered in blood, they were tortured. She felt a punch in her stomach, the smell of their blood almost made her vomit.

"What are you waiting for?" her father asked "kill them before I kill her" Artemis saw her mom in one corner. She was tied up. She could also see tears running down her cheeks.

"Kill them!" her dad yelled. Artemis pointed her first arrow to Kaldur who was hanging in front of her. He would be the hardest one to kill out of all of them, so she had to start with him. Next it would be Wally, Roy, Robin, Megan, Zatanna, and then maybe she could kill herself. No, she couldn't do that her mom. She needed her, if she killed herself her mom would be alone with no one around to help her and her dad could hurt her. No that was out of the question.

"You are too soft! _Kill_. Them. Now!" he said grabbing one of his blades. She fixed her aim at Kaldur's heart, her hands were shaking, she was sweating, she saw blurry because of the tears forming in her eyes, she was ready to fire, all she had to do was to let go of the arrow. She couldn't do it, she tried, she had to save her mom, but she just couldn't do it. She felt anger; she could feel her ears burning out of rage. She wanted to kill her father for making her do this. Her heart was beating so fast. 'Kill him already' she thought about Kaldur or her dad, she didn't know which one.

"Kill them!" he screamed in her ear

"I can't!" she yelled back throwing the arrow to the floor. At that moment Sportsmaster threw his blades to Artemis' mom, one hit right between her eyes, and the other one in her heart. Blood spilled and Artemis could see her mom's body turning white, unmoving, her open eyes staring right at her. Artemis let out a scream.

"Artemis! Wake up" she felt arms shaking her. She opened her eyes to find Kaldur just inches away from her face. She sat up and looked around. Kaldur's hand was still on her shoulder; Wally was right next to Kaldur. They both looked concerned.

"You were having a nightmare. And you were screaming" Kaldur said. A nightmare! It was only a nightmare, she was relieved. Still it felt so real she wanted to cry, but she couldn't let anyone see her like that. She hated it when she cried. She felt weak, and vulnerable, and she wasn't any of those things.

"Oh" was all she could say. She was breathing fast, sweat covered her forehead, and her hands were shaking.

"Are you okay?" asked Wally looking at her hands

"Yeah I am" she replied "you guys can go sleep now"

"But-"Wally tried to argue

"I am fine" Artemis said firmly

"Okay, but if you need something I'll be in my room" said Kaldur putting his hand over hers. He then walked away taking kid Flash with him and out of Artemis's room. Kid Flash wanted to stay to talk to her, but Kaldur hadn't let him. 'What was his problem' he thought.

That was the scariest nightmare she ever had. She knew the deadline was close, it was a week away. After the nightmare Artemis didn't want to go back to sleep afraid that she might have another nightmare again. She lied there on her bed looking at the ceiling, she was tired and sleepy but she forced herself to keep her eyes open. When she looked at the clock on the wall in front of her it was 9am already. She stood up and went to the bathroom. She took a shower; she wasn't hungry at all so she went directly to the training room. She was beating the punching bag when she heard someone coming in. she turned around and found Kaldur standing looking at her.

"I can see you are already training" he said

"Yeah I was bored" she replied turning back around to continue with her training

Kaldur just stood there looking at the archer punch the bag with so much anger, he had never seen her so focus or pissed, he knew there was something wrong with her, but he knew better than to ask her. She would say she is fine like always. She wasn't someone who liked asking for help. She was tough or she tried to be. He knew that she would open up when she was ready and he was prepared to wait for her. He knew it was going to be a long wait.

Artemis kept punching he bag, she was letting all the anger, frustration and pain out. She was so confused. She didn't know what to do. During the whole day she just kept to herself, training, or in her room reading. She tried to take her mind off things. She knew time was running out.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters of Young Justice.**

Artemis was so stressed. They had training all that week so she was always at Mt. Justice. The only thing she could think about was her father and her "job". During training she lost every match, which was surprising considering how good she was in hand to hand combats.

"Artemis focus!" black Canary yelled as she was on the floor after losing every match that day.

"You have to focus on the fight" black Canary said putting a hand on Artemis' shoulder

"Yeah I know" replied Artemis annoyed. She had so much in her mind she couldn't concentrate at all.

By the time training was over everyone had their eyes on Artemis. She was quieter than usual; even after Wally had made fun of her.

"Whoa! You lost every match? Who's the loser now?" yelled Wally pointing at her face and laughing hysterically in front of everyone. Artemis didn't care though she didn't have time for his games. She had more important things to do.

"Whatever" she whispered and just walked away. Everyone was surprised the blonde hadn't hit or even yell at Wally. They just looked at her walking away with their open mouths.

Artemis went to her room and lied on her bed for hours. She hadn't eaten the whole day and wasn't even hungry. She read for a couple of hours, but then she got bored and went to the training room. She was punching the bag with all her strength.

"Well, well, well, look who is here?" said a male. Artemis turned around at once and saw Red Arrow standing by the door.

"What do you want?" she asked glaring at him

Just wondering why you are here training after the training session with Black Canary, everyone is in the living room relaxing and tired" he replied

"Not me" she said putting her hands on her hip "if you are so tired like everyone else why don't you go and hang out with them too?" she said pointing at the door

"I can't I have to protect my team from the mole remember?" he said looking at her. She had black shorts on and a green tank top. She was sweaty and her hair was a mess in a pony tail, but for some reason he couldn't keep his eyes off her. She looked hot. He hoped she didn't notice he was looking at her up and down. With that comment Artemis was now pissed.

"Don't you have someone else to piss off? "She snapped

"So why are you training so hard? Or I should say for who?" he asked ignoring her question completely

"I punch this bag so I don't have to punch your face" she snapped

"Oh how sweet of you" he said mocking her "considering you lost every single match today during training"

"You are dead!" she yelled "I'll tech you a lesson" tackling Roy onto the mat.

Then the fighting started. Artemis was on top of him punching his face, he was trying to push her off him, but couldn't. She was strong, and when he looked at her he saw anger in her eyes. The moment he looked at her eyes fear run through his spine, he saw a different person that instant. He saw a wild beast and for the first time he was afraid. She wasn't going to kill him but her punches and kick were hard and painful. Artemis was in her own world at that moment, it was like something dark and savage took over her body, she didn't want to hurt Roy, but she couldn't stop, it was almost as if she _had_ to hurt him, she _needed _to hurt him, to see his blood, she didn't know how to stop.

Everyone in the living room heard yelling coming from the training room and immediately they were running to see what was going on. When they got there they saw Artemis on top of Roy. It was a nasty fight or beating since she was kicking his ass. Everyone ran toward them trying to get Artemis off Roy. Kaldur tried but she wouldn't let go. Wally and Robin were grabbing Roy under Artemis dragging him out of her claws.

"Artemis let go!" Kaldur was screaming while grabbing her by her waist pulling her off Roy's body. He could feel her hot skin. He didn't know what to do. She wouldn't let go and by now there was blood coming from Roy's mouth and nose.

"Please Artemis let go. For me" he whispered in her ear. The moment she heard Kaldur's voice it was like she came back and she saw Roy's bloody face and then her hands cover in blood. She let go of him and she felt kaldur's strong arms pulling her up on her feet. She was shaking. She had never been so angry that she blacked out.

"You psycho! You'll pay for this!" Roy screamed at her trying to stop the blood from his nose and mouth

"Are you okay?" asked Kaldur facing Artemis giving his back to Roy "taking him out of here" motioning for Robin and Wally to get Roy out of the room. Roy kept screaming until he was out of the training room, insulting Artemis.

"Yeah…..I…..I need to go home" she said calmly. Kaldur grabbed her arm before she walked away.

"What happened?" he asked

"He was just being a jerk" she replied pulling her arm away from him

"No, I'm talking about you. It's like you were trying to kill him. You didn't even hear me yelling you to stop. I was pulling you as hard as I could and you still wouldn't let go. What happened to you?" she could hear fear in his voice.

She looked behind Kaldur and saw Megan and Zatanna looking at her with fear in their eyes. They weren't saying anything, 'they probably too afraid' she thought.

"I….I don't know what you're talking about" she snapped walking away not listening to anything her friends were saying. She wanted to go home; she couldn't stand being the cave for another minute. She went to her room grabbed her bag and practically ran to the exit.

"Artemis wait!" Artemis didn't know who it was and she didn't care either.

"I need to go" that's all she said before going the transporter and disappearing. Everyone was in shocked including Artemis. 'She was going crazy'

"What the hell is wrong with me?" she said to herself. Walking in her house she went to her room without even saying hi to her mom. In her room she found another note on her bed. She grabbed it and opened it.

HEY LITTLE PRINCESS

JUST A REMINDER

TICK TOCK

SWEET DREAMS

Artemis ripped the letter and went to take a shower. She stayed in the shower for an hour. Then she went straight to bed. She didn't care that her hair was soaking wet. She lied on her bed for hours, she couldn't sleep. Another sleepless night. She looked at the ceiling until she could see the sun rise through her window. At 6 in the morning she got ready to go to school.

"Bye mom I'm going to school" she said as she opened the door.

"Wait Artemis you have eat breakfast!" her mom yelled trying to catch up with Artemis, but she was already gone.

During school Artemis didn't pay attention to anything. She was too busy thinking about what to do with her "job" she felt sick just thinking about it. She didn't want to go to the cave; she didn't want to see her teammates, her friends, her new family. 'No! They are not my friends! They are just a group of heroes wannabes that don't trust me!' she thought to herself, but she knew it wasn't true.

After school she went to the cave to train again. When she got there everyone was looking at her, they were surprised to see her there. No one thought she would come after what happened with Red Arrow. Black Canary was already there. The training began and again Artemis lost every match. After just kicking Roy's ass she lost to everyone else. The truth is her mind wasn't there at all.

"Artemis focus!" Black Canary yelled. She was getting angry "concentrate!"

Artemis was getting mad with all the yelling.

"What are you doing!"

"You missed a perfect hit!"

"C'mon Artemis!" the anger of Black Canary's voice was evident

"Artemis-!"

"That's enough! I get it! But obviously I can't fucking concentrate!" snapped Artemis stopping her fight with kid flash. Everyone's jaw dropped. Artemis had just raised her voice at Black Canary.

"Can you stop with all the yelling?" Artemis kept going. Black Canary just stood there; she knew something was wrong with Artemis. She could see anger in Artemis' eyes.

"Artemis what's wrong?" she asked concerned

"Nothing! Nothing is wrong with me! I've never been better!" Artemis snapped throwing her hands in the air walking away quickly.

"I'm going to take a shower" she said

Black Canary didn't say anything. She just looked concerned.

Artemis was in the shower for at least 2 hours. She went straight to bed. Then she heard someone talking.

"Artemis dinner is ready" it was Megan in Artemis' mind

"Megan! Get out if my head"

"But…..dinner is ready" Megan whispered in her mind

"I'm not hungry. Now get out"

That night she had a nightmare, the same one as the other one. She woke up screaming at 2 am. Sweat all over forehead and palms. She was breathing hard. She decided to go to the training room and punch the bag a bit more. At 5 in the morning she took a shower and got ready for school. She left before anyone else could see her.

After schools she went home and found her mom standing in front of the door.

"Artemis! Why didn't you call last night?" her mom scolded

"Mom I was training. Okay?" she replied

"I don't care you should've call anyways. I was so worried about you!"

"Mom! I don't have time to call you every five minutes! I can take care of myself!"

"Artemis Crock! Don't talk to me like that!"

"Whatever mom" Artemis gave up, turned around and got the hell out of there.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10 **

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Young Justice**

After the fight Artemis had with her mom she didn't know where to go. The only place that would come to mind was the cave, but she didn't want to go. She had to go later anyways to train, but for the moment she would just walk around. She was still in her school uniform, she had her backpack full of books, and she had her bag with her clothes to train and her costume.

Artemis walked to the park around the corner, sat there and started to read. Even though she was reading a very interesting book she was distracted, she was thinking about her father, and her mom, how her life was so fucked up, how she was going to hurt her team.

Artemis just sat there thinking, she was tired, tired of school, tired of life, tired of expecting something different, tired of having to do what she was told, tired of not having a choice, tired of trying, just tired, and no amount of sleep will get rid of this feeling. This was a kind of tired that sleep couldn't fix.

She was so distracted she forgot about the time. When she looked at the clock it was 4:55 pm. She was going to be late for training. She stood up and ran to the nearest zeta tube.

When Artemis got to Mt. Justice the team had already started their training, luckily they were still warming up. Black Canary looked at Artemis and said "Artemis I need to talk to you"

"Okay, I'll just go change in a minute" she replied running to the bathroom to change.

"No. I need to talk to you _now_" Black Canary was serious. Everyone had stopped warming up and they were now staring at Artemis and Black Canary.

"Fine" Artemis sighed

"Team keep running until I get back! And if you stop I will make sure you run around Mt. Justice until you can't feel your legs anymore" Black Canary said with a smirk on her face. The team immediately started running faster while Artemis and Black Canary walked to the infirmary.

"Artemis what is going on? Is there something you need to talk about?

"No, _I'm fine_ like I told you before"

"No, you are not. Artemis I saw what you did at Red Arrow and-"

"He was being a jerk to me! He came looking for trouble!" Artemis cut her off

"I don't care who started it. When I asked the team nobody wanted to say anything until I told them that if they didn't they will have a week of training with batman"

"but-"

"And they told me you were out if control. That's not normal Artemis. Why are so angry at the world?"

Artemis didn't know what to say. She felt so much rage. Black Canary was right. But she couldn't tell anyone. She needed to keep her mom safe. Artemis swallowing her tears just stood there looking at Black Canary. She opened her mouth trying to answer her but nothing came out. Finally Black Canary put a hand on Artemis' shoulder and said "Artemis you can trust me"

"I am stress out, I have so much homework, exams, and…..and boy problems" she lied, except for the boy problem, which of course she had after kissing three boys, especially three boys who were best friends, practically brothers.

"Oh I see" Black Canary said "in that case you can skip training today, do your homework, study and rest"

"Thank you" Artemis said. She felt so guilty Black Canary was so good to her, and she was lying to her like it was nothing. Artemis felt worthless. All these people defending the weak, the innocent, trying to make justice for everyone, not just the good guys, but also the villains. And yet there she was lying to them and hurting them. She was not worth of being there with all of them.

Artemis walked to her room to rest and "do her homework". She changed and went to bed. She needed to rest, she felt so tense. After a while lying on her bed she felt asleep.

"Artemis wake up!" she shot her eyes open to find Kaldur in her room. She had another nightmare of her killing the team. She had killed Kaldur, she had shot an arrow through his heart after he _begged _for mercy. Artemis couldn't do that. She couldn't even think about killing Kaldur let alone do it. She couldn't fight back the tears running down her pink cheeks. She starting to cry harder, she was sobbing.

Kaldur was shocked he had never seen Artemis like this. She was so vulnerable. He could see she was in pain, she was hurting _badly_, and he didn't like it. He wrapped his arms around her and comforted her.

"It's okay. Everything will be okay" he whispered in her ear

"No it won't" she whispered in his

"Artemis I'm here. I will always be here. I will never let anything bad happen to you" he said grabbing her face to look at her. They were looking into each other's eyes and once again the world disappeared, it was only the two of them in the whole world.

"You shouldn't do that. You'll get hurt if you get close to me" she replied

"No I won't. I know you, you would never try to hurt any of us" he said calmly "Artemis was wrong? Tell me _please._ You need to talk about it. If you don't let it out you're going to let it eat you away"

Artemis couldn't believe what she was hearing. It's so ironic that he trusted her so much and swore to protect her when she was going to have to kill him soon. Just when Artemis was about to say something she saw Wally standing just outside the open door. Wally didn't say anything, he looked at the blond and his best friend, _on her bed,_ _holding each other_, being so close almost kissing, and without a word he walked away. Artemis stood up and ran after him.

"Wally wait!" she yelled behind him. He kept walking not wanting to talk or even see the archer.

"Please Wally!" she ran fast enough for her to catch up to him and pull his arm.

"Let go!" he said jerking his arm away from her touch

"Please Wally. It's not what it looks like!" she said almost pleading

"then what is it?" he said throwing his hands in the air "because it sure looks like you and Kaldur were…..so close on your bed, _holding each other_!" he was yelling at her

"Wally I didn't-" she whispered

"What do you want from me? We kissed! Then you ignored me, then we kissed again and now I see you with Kaldur!"

"What?" Kaldur said standing behind Artemis listening to everything Wally had said "you two _kissed_?" he asked almost in shock pointing at Artemis and Wally.

"Yes _we did_" snapped Wally looking at Kaldur with so much rage

"Artemis what's going on?" asked Kaldur "When did you guys kiss?"

"Before the party" responded Artemis not being able to look at Kaldur in the face

"And after you kissed him you….you- you kissed me?" he asked pointing at his chest raising his voice

"She kissed you too?" asked Wally in a mix of shock, surprise, anger and sadness

Artemis didn't know what to say so she just nodded.

"Did our kisses mean anything to you at all?" Wally asked Artemis

She didn't know what to say, she opened her mouth but the words wouldn't come out.

"And what about Kaldur? Or was it just another kiss?"

Artemis was swallowing her tears. She could see Kaldur's hurt eyes, she couldn't stand seeing him in pain, and it was her fault. But before she could say anything a male voice from down the hallway said "I'm not surprised she kissed you both" it was Roy with a black eye, a purple nose and scratches all over his face.

"What?" asked Wally turning around to look at Roy.

"she kissed me too" he said "after I saw you two kiss in the clinic, and when I heard about her and Kaldur going to a party together, I had to confront her about it and that's when it happened" Roy said

"So when Black canary said you had "personal problems" she wasn't lying" said Wally

"You know Artemis it makes me wonder, how many other guys have you kiss?" asked Roy. Artemis was starting to get pissed.

"You know what! I should have never kissed you. I regret ever kissing you because you are nothing but an insecure jerk. Does it make you feel good about yourself when you insult me or when you humiliate me?" Artemis yelled at Roy getting in his face. Roy was furious. 'Who does she think she is?' he thought.

"And you are nothing but an easy girl" he snapped.

"That is enough!" said Kaldur raising his voice. Everyone turned to stare at him "Roy that's not necessary"

"What! She kissed the three of us! What do you call a girl who messes around with multiple guys at the time? A whore! That's what they are called!" Roy yelled

"Stop it! You do not need to disrespect Artemis like that!" snapped Kaldur walking up to Roy and getting in his face. Artemis just stood there. She didn't know what to do. Just then Wally walked in between Kaldur and Roy so they would be far apart.

"Guys let's all calm down" he said "I should have never trusted you" he said looking at Artemis. She wanted to throw up. She felt sick to her stomach.

"Roy let's go" he said walking away with Roy following right behind him. Roy's eyes never left Kaldur's.

Artemis just stood there with Kaldur. She looked at Kaldur once more before he walked away, like Wally and Roy, without saying anything.

Artemis was left in the middle of the hallway alone. She turned around and walked to her room. She swallowed all her tears and promised herself she wouldn't cry. She wouldn't be weak. She changed, grabbed her bags and went home. She was a strong girl; she didn't need any of these guys, as far as she knew they were all jerks.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from Young Justice **

Artemis woke up really early so she wouldn't have to see or talk to her mom. She left a note on the table.

LEFT FOR SCHOOL EARLY

SEE LATER YOU TONIGHT

I HAVE ESTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES AFTER SCHOOL

In school Artemis was tense. She didn't want to talk to anyone. She even slept during her English class, good thing the teacher didn't notice. When lunch came she realized she hadn't bring anything to eat, she wasn't hungry anyways, so that wasn't really a problem, she just walked around. She wanted to be alone. She needed time to think. She needed to be strong for her and her mom.

As soon as the bell rang for everyone to go home Artemis stood up, went to her locker, grabbed her things, and walked to the large, dark gates in front of the school. It was finally Friday, everyone seemed to be overly excited, and people were running, screaming, laughing. Artemis just walked by looking at all the girls and the guys, how happy they looked, how perfect their lives were or at least they seemed to be that way. She felt kind of jealous, they didn't have to worry about their safety or their families', they didn't have to kill people because their father said so, and they didn't have to eat the something for dinner for a whole week because they couldn't afford anything else.

Suddenly all her thoughts stopped when she saw Kaldur standing right in front of her, just outside the gates of the school. She was shocked, 'why is he here? Shouldn't he be mad at her for kissing him and his best friends?' And yet he was standing there looking at her with a smile on his face. He was too kind with her, she didn't deserve it, she was a traitor and the daughter of an ex-assassin, and member of the shadows. She walked toward Kaldur and stopped in front of him.

"Hi" she said nervously

"Hi" he responded. There was an awkward silence and finally Artemis managed to say "listen Kaldur I'm sorry-"

"No Artemis I'm sorry. I had no right to be mad at you. After all_ I_ kissed you at the party" he interrupted her.

"But I didn't stop it" she insisted looking at his eyes

"I know and that's why I thought you felt the same way about me" he replied with a shy smile and blushing.

"The same way?" she whispered. She couldn't believe he had just said that. Did he have feelings for her? And if that was the case, why? He could have any other girl; he was handsome, polite, intelligent, strong, and respectful.

"And then I remembered all the drinks you had that night. I think I took advantage of you and I'm sorry" he continued.

"Kaldur, don't be ridiculous! Do you honestly think anyone can take advantage of me? And for your information I didn't have that many drinks. I was fine" she replied

"Still I shouldn't have done that. I shouldn't have kissed you….. I put our friendship at risk by doing that. I put our relation at risk and that's not ok" he said. She could see the sadness in his eyes.

"Kaldur it's okay. We are still friends" she said slightly smiling

"I am glad" he said. He was relieved for a moment he thought she would never be his friend again after what had happened. But he wanted to be more than just friends, but that wasn't possible.' She obviously doesn't feel the same way' he thought. He wanted her close to him even if that meant just being friends with her.

"So….._my friend_ what are you doing here?" she asked

"I came because…..I…I wanted to take you to eat ice cream" he said rapidly

"What?" she asked surprised and confused at the same time

"Yeah I'll take you out today….. If you are okay with it, of course"

"Kaldur I don't know-"

"I want to take you out today; it's your birthday after all"

"My birthday?" she whispered. She had forgotten her birthday. She had been so distracted she forgot her birthday 'wow how could I forget my birthday' she thought to herself.

"Yeah don't tell me you forgot you own birthday!" he exclaimed.

"No of course not, who would forget their own birthday?" she said nervously

"Ok, well let's go" he said motioning for her to get on his motorcycle.

"You even brought your motorcycle. Try not to scare me" she said sarcastically. They both smiled and got on the bike. First Kaldur and then Artemis right behind him. She hugged him tightly and they sped off. She could feel his muscles tense as she hugged him. He was warm and smelled really nice. She put her head on his back and closed her eyes. She wanted to stay like that forever; she wanted to be with him, touching him, feeling him forever.

Kaldur could feel Artemis' body against his. He could feel his face getting hot and his palms getting sweaty. He felt happy; he was able to be so close to Artemis, alone. He didn't want it to end.

Once they got to the ice cream shop Kaldur was a little sad because the best ride of his life was already over.

"We are here" he said taking his helmet off.

"Nice" she said looking at the shop while she got off the bike. They both walked in, Artemis in front of course, since Kaldur was a gentleman. This made Artemis smile. Little things like this made him different from any other guy that tried to hit on her.

"Well what do you want? Everything is on me" he said

"No, at least let me pay my check" she said even though she didn't have that much money on her.

"It's your birthday remember? I will pay for everything" he said "please Artemis"

Just the sound if his voice saying her name made her shiver. And with no arguments she ordered a large chocolate ice cream. Kaldur ordered a vanilla milkshake, and they botch went to sit down to the table by the window.

As they were waiting for their ice creams to arrive no one said anything. There was a silent for a couple of minutes before Artemis asked "so how did you know it was my birthday?"

"Robin" Kaldur replied

"How did he know?" she asked alarmed. 'What else did he know?' oh no, she was scared now.

"Robin knows everything I thought you knew that already"

"Everything?" she asked trying to sound calm, but failed at it. She wasn't scare anymore. She was terrified.

"Well not everything, but you know most things" he said looking at her confused

"oh yeah right" she said as her ice cream and his milkshake were being put on the table by a waitress, who was looking and smiling at Kaldur a little too much. Artemis didn't like it. After the waitress left Artemis was mad.

"Looks like you have an admirer" Artemis said while eating her ice cream, not looking at Kaldur.

"What?" he asked puzzled

"The waitress, she was staring at you and smiling like a puppy"

"No she wasn't" he argued

"Yes she was!" she yelled "I saw it!"

People were staring at them now. She felt anger, and she didn't know why. She was jealous.

"Ok if you said so" said Kaldur surprised at her outburst.

"Sorry" she said eating her ice cream so she wouldn't have to talk and embarrassed herself even more

"Artemis is everything ok?" he asked concerned. He was worried about Artemis. She was acting _extra_ aggressive lately, she had nightmares, she even cried on his shoulders, which was rare for her to do, and on top of that she hadn't told anyone it was her birthday today.

"Yeah I'm fine" she said looking outside the window. She didn't want to keep lying to him.

"Artemis why didn't you tell anyone it was your birthday today?" he asked

She didn't know what to say. She didn't tell anyone because she didn't want information that could compromise her in any way. She didn't trust anyone. She grew up thinking that everyone was ambitious and selfish, look at her father, he was a monster, her sister was an assassin who left Artemis alone, how selfish could you be to do that to your own little sister, her mom was in jail for most of her childhood, she was in jail because she was selfish, she didn't think about Jade of Artemis before committing all her crimes. She only thought about herself. With a family that fucked up how could she trust anyone.

"I…..I didn't think it was a big deal. I mean I don't ever celebrate my birthday. I never have" she replied. It was the truth her birthday was like any other day. Her father never did anything especial, he never even said happy birthday to her. So when her birthday came every year she didn't pay attention to it. She decided it was best if she forgot her birthday.

Kaldur didn't say anything. He was confused. He thought birthdays were a big deal here on earth. They sure were a big deal in Atlantis. They had big parties when it was someone's birthday.

"What? How come? I thought birthdays were a big deal here" he said frowning

"uhhhh you see yeah they are, but in my culture they aren't" she lied

"Your culture?"

"Yeah I am half Vietnamese. We don't really celebrate our birthdays" she said quickly.

"Oh really?" he asked "so that's why you have tan skin, blonde hair and gray, almond shaped eyes"

She looked at him surprised. She never thought he would be that observant, especially of her.

"Yeah" she said smiling. She was happy he noticed her like that.

Once they finished their ice cream Kaldur got up and paid for everything.

"Are you ready?" he asked

"Ready? For what?" she asked

"I have another surprised for you today" he said

"Oh wow really?" she asked

They got up, got on the motorcycle and sped off. Once again the ride was amazing for both of them. After about an hour of driving Kaldur stopped and Artemis opened her eyes to see the beautiful blue sea. She was in a beach she didn't recognize, but it was beautiful. She saw the blue sea, she could feel the warm freeze on her skin, and she smelled the fresh salt of the waters. She could hear the birds flying by. She couldn't believe it. That was the most beautiful place she had ever seen or been into.

"Oh my God. It's beautiful" she gasped

"Yeah, it really is" Kaldur said smiling

"Where are we?" she asked

"My favorite place here on earth" he replied

"Well I can see why"

"I have never brought anyone here" he said blushing

Artemis was surprised. She turned to look at him and met his eyes. They stared at each other for a couple of seconds before Artemis turned to look at the sea.

"I want to stay here forever" she said

"Yeah, so do I" he walked toward the water "c'mon let's go" he said motioning for the water with his head.

"No way I'm going in there" she said stepping back

"Why not?"

"Because…..I am….not a very good swimmer" she said hesitantly

"Really? Well no problem I'll help you" he said extending his hand, giving her one the most genuine smiles she had ever seen

She took his hand without saying anything and walked toward the water with him. He took his shoes and his shirt off and put it down on the sand. Artemis saw his muscular body and blushed. Then she took off her jacket, her shoes, her socks, and her skirt, she short shorts under it anyway. Kaldur looked at her and looked away immediately. He could feel his face getting hot, his cheeks were red and he couldn't help but glance at the blonde every second and looked away the next. She was gorgeous.

Once they were in the water they were relaxed. The water was warm, and light. It was really peaceful with no one around except Kaldur. They were both floating in the water.

"Watch this" Kaldur say standing up

Artemis looked up to see small waves coming. They were calm and slow. And then she saw something else. Something was coming along with those waves, she could feel it under the surface of the water, she didn't know what it was and she got scare. Her first instinct was to fight them, but she was in water, she didn't really have the advantage there.

"What are those things?" she asked jumping to where Kaldur was

He caught her and said "Artemis look closely, they are dolphins"

"Oh" was all she could say, she was so embarrassed. Kaldur laughed a bit.

"Well you didn't tell me!" she snapped

"It was a surprised. I didn't think you would be afraid of dolphins" he said smiling

"They are coming" he said putting her down in the water again. The dolphins came and were swimming and jumping around them. They were singing or talking or whatever, but they were making a lot of noise. Artemis was laughing. She was having fun watching the dolphins. Kaldur had never seen her let loose like that. She looked happy, truly happy.

Artemis started petting the dolphins and so did Kaldur. Then out of nowhere a dolphin bumped into Artemis and pushed her towards Kaldur. He caught her and wrapped his arms around her.

"Whoa there!" she said. She looked up to meet Kaldur's sweet eyes. They look into each other's eyes and they were lost again. The dolphins swam closer now and they pushed Artemis' body against kaldur's. His arms were around Artemis' waist now and her hands were around his neck. They were getting closer and closer, and parting her lips slightly, Artemis leant in towards him to brush her lips against his. He opened his mouth and put his tongue inside of hers. She wrapped her legs around his hips as the kiss was growing stronger and deeper. He lifted her up with one hand around her waist and the other one pulling her head towards him. They were overwhelmed by how amazing the kiss felt. Artemis was dazed and confused. She was in another planet, she felt fireworks down in her stomach and so did he. If it wasn't because they needed air they would've kept kissing each other forever. They both pulled away at the same time, never looking away from each other's eyes, breathing fast and heavy, gasping for air.

"I love you" he said between gasps "there is something about you that's so addicting"

Artemis didn't know what to say. She didn't know how she felt. She had never felt that way before so she told him the truth.

"I have never felt this way before" she said. He gave her a warm smile and hugged her tighter. She returned the hugged, but in the back of her mind the words "you are too soft" always lingered even then at that moment. She still hadn't done her '"job". She had a mix of emotions, she was frustrated, happy, excited, fascinated, stressed, sad, angry, confused, she didn't know how she felt anymore.

"Let's go I have another surprised for you" he said. She wanted to say no, that she had to go home, but just looking into his gray eyes made her whole life better, she couldn't say no to that, she couldn't say no to those beautiful eyes, she couldn't say no to him. They got dress and sped off to who knows where. Artemis didn't care where as long as she had Kaldur by her side. Kaldur felt so happy, ecstatic, contented, delighted. He had never felt that way before not even in his home Atlantis.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Young Justice **

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY ARETMIS!" the whole team including Black Canary, Red Tornado and Green Arrow yelled as Artemis walked into the cave with Kaldur behind her.

They had prepared a surprised party for her. There were balloons all over the ceiling, a huge sign that was hanging from the wall in front of the living room that had HAPPY BIRTHDAY written with green letters. There were chips, cupcakes, sodas, punch, and all kind of sweets on the dining table next to the living room, and a large tall green cake in the middle of the table with her name on it and an arrow next to it. They had decorated the whole place; it was mostly green with some yellow and hot pink.

The whole team was there, Megan, Connor, Zatanna, Robin, even Wally and Red Arrow_, wait_, Red Arrow? Yes, he was there too!

"What th-"Artemis tried to say when Kaldur wrapped his right arm around her waist from behind and whispered "happy birthday" in her ear, she blushed. Then all her teammates and the mentors present were walking towards her to congratulate her and give her a hug.

Megan, Zatanna, Robin, Black Canary and GA were the only ones to give her hugs, Superboy, Red Tornado and Wally just congratulated her, and it was very awkward especially when she was next to Kaldur and Wally was glaring at him while he said "happy birthday" to her. Red Arrow didn't even move from where he was standing. He just stared at her.

After being congratulated by almost everyone she walked over to the table and ate some cupcakes, Zatanna and Robin were sitting on the couch, while Megan and Connor were making out in the kitchen, Wally was in the middle of the living room looking at Artemis, and Kaldur was next to her serving himself some punch when Red Arrow appeared behind Artemis.

"Can we talk?" he asked in a very serious tone. Artemis turned around and just looked at him.

"Yes" she replied firmly. They started to walk away but Kaldur grabbed her wrist.

"Kaldur it's okay I'll be fine" said Artemis. Kaldur stared at Roy, _hard._

"What's this about?" Kaldur said glaring at him. Red arrow raised an eyebrow.

"What I have to talk to her about is none of your business"

Kaldur stepped forward and so did Roy, they were face to face in the middle of a glaring war.

Artemis cleared her throat and said "Roy let's go to the infirmary. Kaldur I said I'll be _fine_"

Kaldur looked at Artemis for a reassuring look which she gave, and Roy walked toward the infirmary followed by Artemis.

Once in the room no one said anything for a couple of minutes until Artemis finally broke the silence.

"Roy what do you want?" she asked annoyed.

"An explanation" he replied

"For _what_? I have _nothing _to explain to you" she snapped.

"Why did you kiss me?" he asked

Artemis just looked at him without saying anything.

"I mean you kissed me after you kissed Wally, and then you go and kiss Kaldur too. Why are you doing this?" he continued.

"Doing what? Roy, Wally kissed _me_, he is not my boyfriends or anything"

"What about Kaldur?" he asked crossing his arms.

She bit her lip and said "why do you care? It's none of your business"

He just stared at her and asked "why did you kiss me?"

"Because….I-I had to! It was the only way, you had me pinned down on my bed unable to move, I couldn't hit you so I kissed you" she said looking at him.

"So you kissed me like it was nothing, just to teach me a lesson" he said. She didn't respond just nodded

"And what about Kaldur? Did you kiss him to teach him a lesson too?" he asked bitterly.

"No I-!" she yelled

"Then why did you kiss him!" he interrupted her.

"Why do you even care?" she asked looking at the wall behind Roy with her shining eyes, every time someone said Kaldur's name her eyes sparkled.

"You love him" he whispered loud enough for her to hear. She immediately looked at him in the eyes without saying anything. She saw pain and sadness in his eyes.

He knew she loved him, she didn't say anything and she didn't have to so she just looked at him and with that he knew the truth. Artemis crock was in love with Kaldur. Roy didn't, _couldn't_ say anything so he just walked away, he couldn't bear to stay there any longer, he felt so upset, defeated, jealous, helpless. Artemis didn't try to stop him; she knew that would only make things worse.

Roy just took off leaving everyone puzzled and with questioning looks at Artemis, but just when Artemis was about the say something Batman appeared, walking out from the zeta tube.

"Mission" he said walking toward the front of the room to talk to everyone. He pulled out a telegram and the picture of Sportsmaster appeared. Artemis tensed; she remembered she her "job" was due tomorrow, which technically was 4 hours away.

"I have a mission for you. We have located many unusual movements in different islands of the world, and they all seem to be connected to this island in the Pacific. We have information that this might be a project from the shadows and that Sportsmaster is in charge, but we have yet to confirm this information. Your mission is to spy on them and get as much Intel as you can, and be prepared to engage in combat, _especially_ with Sportsmaster" Batman said.

Artemis felt her heart drop to her stomach, she wanted to scream, cry and throw up. Her knees felt week and her hands started to shake and swear like crazy. She had 4 hours left, only 4 hours; the fate of her mother, and her team mates was in her hands, she could make a move and destroy everything. She had to do what she had to do.

**Btw sorry for the late update I am also working on another story. I will try to upload the next chapter faster.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13 **

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from Young Justice.**

It was dark and very humid. All Artemis could see were the lights of the warehouse in front of her. The team was divided and her partner was none other than Kid Flash. Kaldur had a plan that involved Kid flash and her standing as guards ready to fight in case something happened. She was so scared, she didn't want the team to find out who she was from Sportsmaster, she should've told the team before, but how could she? Her mom's life depended on her, on what she decided tonight.

"Artemis are you okay?" Wally asked her "you are shaking"

"I'm fine. It's just… you know something I ate" she replied enviously.

"On your date with Kaldur?" he asked bitterly.

"What date? What are you talking about?!"

"You two spent the whole day together. Don't tell me it wasn't a date!"

"It wasn't a date" she insisted "and why do you care anyways?"

"I might have. But not anymore" he responded sadly.

Artemis just looked at him. Then they heard a crash somewhere not far away. Artemis jumped at the sound. They tried to communicate with the others through the mind link, but it was broken.

"I'll check it out" she told kid flash.

When she was about to go he grabbed her arm and said "no, I'll go, you stay here"

She nodded and he was gone in a flash.

The suddenly she heard screaming coming from inside the warehouse. Immediately Artemis ran to the warehouse and jumped through a window landing on her feet. She looked around and saw Miss Martian unconscious on the ground. Artemis ran to help her teammate, but very strong arms grabbed her neck from behind.

"Hello honey. I've been waiting for you" Artemis tensed, she knew that voice very well. It was her father.

She tried to calm herself "hello daddy. Care to let go so I can go head and finish my plan to kill the leader of the team?"

He let her go. She turned around and saw him straight in the eyes "don't interfere if you want the job done" she said.

"Do you really think I am that stupid? Kill the girl right here right now in front of me" he said pointing at the Martian.

"No I'll kill the leader. He is more important than she is. She is useless and worthless" responded Artemis, trying to convince her father.

What they didn't know is that the Martian had heard everything. She knew what Artemis was planning and she told the team through the mental link she restored just seconds after she woke up.

"Guys Artemis was the mole all along" said Megan

"What!" Wally screamed

"There is no way" said Kaldur "she would never do that"

"Are you sure Miss M.?" asked robin.

"Yeah. And that's not all Sportsmaster is her father, and she told him that she is planning on killing Kaldur" answered Megan

At that moment Kaldur felt his heart drop to his stomach. He felt hot tears forming in his eyes, but refused to cry, he could feel his mouth dry, and his eyes getting hot. He was furious and hurt, he was in a lot of pain at what he had just heard, and he couldn't believe it. He needed to ask Artemis, he needed to hear it from her mouth.

"We are coming" said Kaldur "keep the mental link and be careful" said Kaldur trying to keep his cool.

Megan tried to get up and hide, but Sportsmaster heard her and threw knives at her. Artemis who was just in front of him tried to stop him.

"Wait! No!" she screamed when she was the knives being thrown at her team mate. Her father just looked at her and he knew she was on their side, and that she wasn't going to kill Kaldur.

"You have become soft haven't you" he said.

Artemis didn't say anything, she looked straight into his eyes and said "you are not going to hurt my friends!"

Sportsmaster laughed hysterically and slapped Artemis across the face. Megan took advantage of what happened and ran outside. The team was already there when they saw Megan flying out of the warehouse. Then they heard someone scream, a feminine voice. It was Artemis' voice.

"Miss m. what is going on?" asked Robin.

"I don't know! I'm so confused. First Artemis said that she was going to kill Kaldur and then she told Sportsmaster that she wasn't going to hurt any of her friends and he hit her! I don't understand!"

Then they hear and explosion coming from the warehouse followed by more screaming, all of a sudden the warehouse started to collapse and that's when Kid flash ran as fast as he could.

"Artemis!" he screamed.

"Kid flash come back!" yelled miss m.

Kaldur also tried to run to rescue her, but Robin grabbed his shoulder.

"Kid flash is enough" said robin. "We can't afford to lose our leader"

"we can't afford to lose anyone" snapped Kaldur glaring at robin making the little bird feel guilty for the comment, after all he was really close with Artemis, she was the only metha human in the team besides him, and she was pretty cool to hang out with.

Then they saw kid flash coming back carrying an unconscious Artemis bridal style.

"Miss m. call the bioship now!" Kaldur said as he ran to see if Artemis was okay.

"She is losing a lot of blood, she needs medical attention now!" said kid flash out of breath

"give her to me. I'll treat her injuries" said Kaldur

Kid flash did as he was told "just be careful. If something happens to her I swear-"

"Nothing is going to happen to her!" snapped Kaldur "I won't let it happen!"

At that moment the bioship landed in front of them with Superboy, miss m, and robin already inside. Kaldur ran with Artemis in his arms to the infirmary of the flying ship followed by kid flash.

"Help me with this. You have very good first aid training kid" said Kaldur

"Got it" said Wally.

They put her on the metal table and ripped her top off to take care of the injuries better and stop the bleeding at least until they get to the cave. They were desperately trying to stop all the blood she was losing. She was getting pale and colder every with minute that passed. Kaldur and Wally were terrified. They couldn't let this happen, especially to Artemis.

"I'm contacting Black Canary to be ready for Artemis as soon as we come" said Robin.

At this point everyone was confused. They didn't know whether to trust Artemis or not. They didn't know whos side she was on. But most importantly they didn't know if she was going to make it.

"Hurry up Megan we are losing her!" yelled Kaldur

Once they got to the cave Batman and Black Canary were waiting for the team to arrive, they had prepared everything they were going to need.

Kaldur took Artemis to the infirmary as soon as the bioship's door opened. He wanted to stay inside but black canary wouldn't let him. She had to push him out of the room. Outside the team was sitting against the wall waiting for Black Canary to come out and tell them everything was going to be okay, that Artemis was going to be fine, and she was still a part of the team, but they knew she didn't have a big chance of surviving.

**AN: I am so sorry I took this long to update this. I just had writer's block and tbh I just have no motivation for anything lately. Idk I do have plans for this story though so plz keep reading. And thank you to everyone who reviewed and liked the story. And thank you to the silent readers that just read, thanks for taking the time to read.**


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of young justice.**

The team was still outside the med bay. They were still waiting for BC to walk out and tell them that Artemis was going to be okay. Kid flash was pacing back and forth in front of the room, robin was leaning against the wall next to the door, Megan was crying in Superboy's arms as he held her, and Kaldur was sitting against the wall with his hands covering his face right in front of the door.

It was silent. No one was saying anything. They didn't really know what to say as they had no idea what was going on.

After few more hours BC came out of the room. Everyone asked about Artemis at the same time.

"How's Artemis?"

"Is she okay?"

"Will she be okay?"

"What's going on with Artemis?"

"What took you so long?"

Kaldur actually stood up and tried to go inside the room but BC didn't let him and blocked his way with her body.

"Everyone calm down. Artemis will be okay. She lost a lot of blood, and the injuries she had were very deep" then she looked straight at Kaldur saying "Artemis is asleep and will be for rest of the night, all of you better go and get some sleep. Let her rest"

Kaldur and Wally tried to protest, but BC didn't even let them talk.

"Let her rest" she commanded very seriously

The team left and walked to their respective rooms.

"It's my entire fault" said Kaldur looking at the floor. Everyone stopped and turned around to look at Kaldur.

"It wasn't your fault" said Megan

"Yes it was. If something happens to Artemis I don't know what I'll do" he said with hot tears forming in his eyes. He was feeling so guilty, and tired, he couldn't do it anymore, he was breaking, he was losing it, and he couldn't handle almost losing Artemis.

"Maybe we need a new leader" barked Wally viciously. He blamed Kaldur for what had happened to Artemis. He was broken too, but unlike Kaldur, Wally wasn't sad, he was angry, furious. He wanted someone to blame, he wanted to punch someone in the face, to hurt someone. He wanted to make someone feel the pain Artemis felt. But most of all he wanted to stop feeling so guilty, if he hadn't left her alone during the mission maybe she wouldn't be like this right now. It was because he left her alone that she almost got killed, it was his mistake, because he was so fucking stupid, such an idiot. He truly hated himself.

"KF calm down. You don't mean that" said Robin, trying to reduce the tension between his teammates.

"Maybe I do" retorted Wally "he is the leader, he is not suppose to let shit like this happen!"

"KF you know no one is to blame here" said Superboy

Kid Flash was so angry, he was so pissed, he looked straight at Kaldur, but he was quietly looking down, and he had tears falling down his cheeks.

At that moment kid flash ran and tackled him making them fall onto the cold, cement floor.

"You fucking coward! At least say something when I'm talking to you!" yelled Wally while he was trying to punch Kaldur, but couldn't because Superboy and robin were holding him back, and trying to get him off their leader.

Kaldur on the other hand was on the floor just laying there. He didn't even try to defend himself from Wally. He deserved all the insults and name calling, and even the hits. After all he was right; he was the leader, shit like this wasn't supposed to happen, especially not to Artemis, maybe the team needed a new leader. He wasn't good enough, he didn't deserve it, he couldn't handle being leader obviously.

Megan was crying even harder now. Robin and Superboy dragged Wally to his room and locked him there; unfortunately they could still hear his screams and insults.

Kaldur just stood and went to his room without saying anything. He was still crying, his tears were hot, they burned every time he wiped them and even more would fall from his eyes, he could barely breath thanks to all the mucus he had accumulated from all the crying. He didn't care though. He only cared for Artemis and her well being. He walked to his room and took a shower. He stayed in there with the cold water hitting his back for two hours. Once he got out and lied down on his bed, he tried to sleep but he couldn't. Every time he closed his eyes he saw Artemis covered in blood, he stayed awake for a few hours, but decided that he didn't need sleep.

He stood up and went to the med bay, sure BC said to let Artemis rest, but he couldn't take it anymore, he had to see her, touch her, be close to her. As he entered the room, he saw her lying down on the bed, sleeping peacefully, so innocent and beautiful. Then he noticed her arms, her shoulder, her torso, and how the bandages were stained red. He sat down beside her and saw all the cuts and bruises covering her beautiful body, and he realized how much she needed him then, and he wasn't there. It killed him, something inside him died when he saw her hurt, on that bed. He just sat there looking at her for the rest of the night.

The next morning BC walked in to check on Artemis, and found Kaldur sitting next to her sleeping. She shook her head. She went and poked his shoulder. He jumped at the sudden touch.

"Kaldur it's ok. It's me Black Canary. You should go to sleep to your room" she said with a soft look on her face

"I can't. I tried but I can't. I can't stand being apart from Artemis" responded the young boy

BC looked at him with worry "Kaldur. This isn't your fault. None of it"

"It is. I am the leader. This is not suppose to happen"

"Kaldur you listen to me now. You are not to blame here. Sportsmaster is. He is the one who hurt Artemis not you. You need to be strong for you, for your teammates, and especially for Artemis, she is going to need you now more than ever" said BC.

Kaldur didn't know what she meant. But he was too tired to ask. "I don't want to go back to my room. Can I please stay here with her?" bagged Kaldur with his voice cracking.

"Fine" she sighed "now go outside for a little bit while I change Artemis' bandages, you can come back and stay when I'm done"

Kaldur nodded and walked out of the room, waiting right in front of the door.

When BC was done changing Artemis' bandages she came out of the room to find Kaldur sitting on the floor and leaning against the wall in front of the door.

"You can go in now" she said

"Thank you" responded Kaldur

She looked at him softly and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Kaldur I know you have feelings for Artemis, and that's okay, but be careful. She is not ready for anything like that. When she wakes up Batman and I have to talk to her, then if she wants to she'll tell you the truth. In the mean time tried to rest as much as you can, and be ready" she advised

"BC I agree with you. I would never do anything to hurt or disrespect Artemis in any way" he agreed

"Okay" she said.

Kaldur went inside the room and sat on the chair next to Artemis. He held her hand and squeezed it lightly.

"Artemis please wake up. I am so sorry. This is my fault; this was never supposed to happen. Just please wake up, for me. I love you so much. I have never felt like this. I have never been more terrified in my entire life before. I adore you. I just wish you knew how in love with you I am, how much I love the way you laugh, your smiles, your glares, how you look away when your nervous, how you get lost in a book you're reading, how passionate you are about the things and the people you love, how you can kick my ass if you wanted to. I never get tired of looking at you, you are so beautiful, and smart, and funny, and you are everything I desire. I love you so much that I wouldn't care if you broke my heart; in fact I believe I would be the luckiest man alive if you broke my heart. It's sad Artemis; it's sad how much I love you, more than I could ever love myself" implored Kaldur looking at Artemis.

Artemis kept sleeping peacefully for the rest of the day, and Kaldur didn't move. The team went to visit them in the med bay, they offered Kaldur some food, but he wasn't hungry at all. Wally had calmed down, and was quietly in the back of the room staring at Artemis. His lips pursed in a thin line, tears forming in his eyes, but refusing to let them fall. When everyone was done, they left the room with the exception of Wally, who wanted to talk to Kaldur.

"I didn't mean what I said yesterday. I was just so angry at myself that I wanted to hurt someone, and that someone was you because let's face it, you love Artemis, and I love her too. I couldn't handle what happened to her, and I certainly can't handle you and her together" admitted Wally.

"Wally I never meant to hurt you. I love Artemis so much that I would die for her. I still think this was my fault, and even if you say it wasn't, I'll still believe it was. And It's okay Wally I understands about yesterday, I was feeling devastated also, so no hard feelings" responded Kaldur

"I think Artemis loves you Kaldur. Even if she doesn't know it yet, and all I want is for her to be happy. I hope you can make her happy, because if you don't keep in mind that I will haunt you down" he said in a serious tone.

"Don't jump ahead my friend. Artemis will decide what she wants when she wakes up, even if she doesn't chose me I will always protect her no matter what" assured Kaldur.

"Same here Kaldur" reaffirmed Wally walking out of the room.


End file.
